Virus Laboratory in Review – It’s Certainly Catching!

Just when you think you’ve seen enough match 3 titles, one comes along that’s different enough to attract – and keep – your interest. Virus Laboratory is one such game. The principle is simple: you must match up touching ‘viruses’ on the game board in order to clear them. All the while, more viruses are being pushed onto the screen from below. This process gets steadily quicker as the game progresses until you simply can’t keep up and it’s Game Over.

Accompanying those mean-ol’ viruses are ‘medicines.’ The game has 12 different viruses which you must match, and each one is added to your ‘Store Room.’ Here you can combine different viruses in order to create a medicine. These can then be used to help you in times of trouble – for example if your screen is filling too quickly for comfort, you can use a bomb to blast away some of the tiles or an entire row to give you a bit of a reprieve. You must use these sparingly though, although you collect more throughout the game, you may only use so many per game. There are eight unlockable medicines to collect, all with varying powers. Chop and change the viruses that you match during gameplay to collect the necessary amounts for making new medicines. You’ll soon get the hang of this by regularly checking the Store Room to see which items are highlighted in red – stock up on these and you’ll do well.

Virus Laboratory has three game modes. Arcade Mode has you working your way through levels, which get steadily more difficult the longer you play. Score as many points as you possibly can for a chance to appear on the High Score Board! This is done by matching the highest number of tiles per ‘tap’ and also performing Combos – that is, matching in rapid succession. Puzzle Mode is a real brain-teaser. You’re presented with a board containing different viruses, and you must match all of them in a certain number of moves to progress. All it takes is one wrong move, and you have to start over again. Endless Mode is self-explanatory. Just keep going as long as you possibly can – good luck!

You’ll unlock new viruses and medicines as you play, as well as ‘Achievements.’ These are accolades which you’ll earn when you complete certain tasks. These are pushed onto your OpenFeint account if you have activated it, as well as Facebook and/or Twitter if you so wish. So as well as being madly addictive when you play alone, you can hook up with friends to compare awards and scores and the fun begins all over again!

Overall, this is an excellent game which I won’t be removing from my iPhone any time soon. The graphics are cartoon-like and very pleasant to look at, and the sound is funky but not overbearing. Prepare to suck your device’s battery dry as you fall victim to the ‘just-one-more-go’ addictiveness of Virus Laboratory.